This 15th century Italian manuscript contains various works from the
alpha (Montpellier) branch of the Corpus
Cluniacense. The text of the Apologeticum is labelled a copy of N in Hoppe's Apol.
Petitmengin confirms that the manuscript is a copy -- the only copy, among all
the Italian manuscripts -- of a portion of N;
Plut.26.12 is descended from F. It has no
independent value for the establishment of the text, since all it can offer are
copyist errors.

Of the ten texts which make up this patristic miscellany, copied by a
single scribe and written in littera antiqua, nine have as a common
denominator that they are all polemics against heresy. The single
apparent exception is the Apologeticum of Tertullian which, despite
its title, does not lack a polemical character, which is constantly
present in the works of this author.

In the table of contents prefixed to the texts (f. IIv), where the
abbreviation of the titles evidences the common character of works
intended for confutation, not all are listed, and the work of Cassian is
erroneously titled: it is not in fact against Victor but against
Nestorius; while in the explicit on f. 300v, the rubricator has
proceeded more correctly, even if the series of texts by Tertullian is
absorbed under the general title of opus. Likewise partly
mistaken is the inscription with which the first page of the book begins
(f. 1r), where is announced Contra Iudaeos liber primus of
Tertullian, instead of the correct title as the fifth book of Adversus
Marcionem of that author, although this is correctly supplied in the explicit
on f. 30v.

The De incarnatione contra Nestorium (ff. 213v-275v),
written by John Cassian at the request of the Roman deacon who later
became Pope Leo I, is followed lastly by the Liber contra Collatorem (cc. 275v-300v),
in which Prosper of Aquitaine opposes some of the theses of the same
Cassian, in particular No. XIII of the 24 Collationes Patrum, from
which the author drew the title of his work given above.

With the inclusion of John Chrysostom, represented by five homilies De inconprehensibilitate Dei directed
against Anomeus (ff. 118r-152v), and six of the eight Sermones contra Iudaeos (ff. 152v-213r),
omitting the second and third (= PG 48, coll. 857-872), patristic Latin is
married to Greek in the volume. These works are offered in the Latin
translation by Ambrogio Traversari made at the end of the same period,
i.e. between the end of 1423 and the beginning of the following
year, with that of another famous work of the same author, the De
sacerdotio (on its attribution to Traversari see section 74).
Although information is lacking on what caused Traversari to choose them,
it is the consensus that the attention shown by the Camaldolese friar in
the first of these texts was born from a living personal interest in its
content, and an intimate consonance with the thought and convictions
expressed, from admiration of their intensity and oratorical force (Stinger 1977, pp. 131-132).

The work contains five homilies preached at Antioch in 386-387 against
the Anomeans, a radical Arian sect, whom Chrysostom rejected and he
condemned the rationalistic attempt to define the divine mystery by means
of philosophical speculation.

Equally lacking is testimony on the reason why Traversari occupied
himself with the Contra Iudaeos group of homilies; but it must be
remembered that distrust of the Jews runs throughout the 15th century, and
there is no reason to suppose that he was an exception to this.
Particularly interesting is some evidence in the pages of the codex, in
the initial rubric and the explicit of the sermons, relating to
their addressees: not just the Jews, but Philo-Judaic Christians; perhaps
the sign of conviction in the accuracy of Chrysostom's statements and on
the favourable opportunity to circulate and make known the translation.

Further investigation may perhaps explain in a more satisfactory manner
the connection between all these miscellaneous texts; while it must be
remembered how often Tertullian was sought out by Traversari, who admired
his ingenium (cf. sections 37, 38
and 43).

The codex was made during work on the project of a new library,
undertaken by Lorenzo the Magnificent in the last years of his life (Dillon Bussi-Fantoni 1992, pp. 135-147).
All the large group of manuscripts produced to this end are richly
decorated at the beginning of the text, arranged on two facing pages which
are presented on opening: on the left the title or titles within a
lavishly miniatured frame, usually but not always circular; on the right a
frame of two elements at right angles, along the upper margin and spine,
between which appears the start of the text and, in the bottom margin in
the centre, the coat of arms. The other standard feature of the
intended uniform graphic design for the new Medici library is that it was
modelled closely on those devised for the nobility of North Italy, such as
the the Visconti, the Gonzaga, the Este, followed by the Da Montefeltro,
the Aragonese, and the Italianising king of Hungary, Mattias Corvinus; as
well as the coat of arms, it included some familial and personal
emblems. For Lorenzo elaborated for the occasion new emblems, such
as the parrot with the motto in French, which affirmed the supremacy of
experience: Non le set qui non l'essaye, like the bees or
butterflies attracted to the flame. The significance of this remains
obscure, not least because the emblem is incomplete both times that it is
depicted.

Boccardino was the artist responsible for the illustration, to whom,
together with Attavante to a lesser degree, the decorative part of the
emblem was entrusted. Also in this codex the illuminator tried to
use a trick effect of metallic paint: white mixed with silver and yellow
with gold, designed to sparkle at the moment when the book was opened;
today only partially appreciable because of the oxidation of the silver.

On f. 1r Antonio Maria Bisciono has left a note of the making of a
collation of solely the works of Tertullian, executed in 1728.